This article introduces NORMANET, an information network for people with disabilities that started its service in 1996. The term "NORMANET" is a combination of "normalization" and "network" and was chosen through a nationwide public contest. The service enables organizations related to people with disabilities, welfare facilities, volunteer groups, etc., across the country to send out information about their organizations. Currently, about 800 organizations are participating in this service and enjoying websites, blogs, and mailing lists. The number of accesses is about 300,000 per month.

Many other Internet services offer free websites and blogs. Still, they have many drawbacks such as advertisements, lack of support, slow page display, and termination of the service without prior notification. On the other hand, since NORMANET is operated with subsidies from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there are no advertisements. The support is available, and the page display speed is stable, which is a positive feature of NORMANET.

Business entities can use the website, blog, mailing list for free by registering as an information-providing organization. Also, even if your business entity has a website, once you register as an information provider, you can expect to increase the number of access to your website by linking to NORMANET.

Besides, the NORMANET BOX service with a bulletin board function has also been well received, allowing users to announce training sessions and other events from the NORMANET top page. The users who gather information are mainly persons with disabilities or people studying about disabilities, and the site is a platform for two-way communication. If you are using other free websites or blogs, search for NORMANET, and you will find it at the top of the search results. So why don't you visit NORMANET?

Editorial Board (in alphabetical order)

Kazuhiko ABE
Director, Japan Disability Forum (JDF);
Chair of the Japan Federation of People with Disabilities; Professor in the Faculty of General Welfare,
Tohoku Fukushi University

Tatsuo KANEHARA
Chief, Independent Living Support & Promotion Office,
Policy Planning Division, Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities, Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Yasuhiko NAKAMURA
Director, Japan Abilities Association (NPO);
Director and Manager of Sales Division of Abilities Care Net, Ltd.

Shigeki NOMURA
Attorney at law, Okuno and Partners

Naoji SHIMIZU
Chair, Japan NGO Network on Disabilities (JANNET);
Professor in the Faculty of Sport Science,
Nippon Sport Science University    

Yoshiko TOBIMATSU
President,
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Chair of the Editorial Board

Akira TERASHIMA
Councillor, Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities

New Normalisation
April 2021 issue

Published 25 April 2021     Volume 41, Issue 4 (issue serial number 459)
Editor: Junji KIMIJIMA

Publisher: Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities